3 Compatible with large memory card capacities, including cards of 2GB and more (camera may require firmware update).

CMOS

Canon’s CMOS technology is one of the company’s key competitive advantages, with noise reduction circuitry at each pixel site delivering virtually noise-free images. In comparison with CCD technology, the lower power consumption characteristics of Canon’s CMOS sensors also contribute to longer battery life.

Signal conversion in Canon’s CMOS sensors is handled by individual amplifiers at each pixel site. Unnecessary charge transfer operations are avoided, vastly speeding up the process of getting signal to the image processor. Noise generation is reduced, power consumption is limited and faster frame rate potential is increased.

DIGIC chips work with a high speed DDR-SDRAM image buffer – reading, processing, compressing and writing image data fast enough to keep the buffer clear during long continuous shooting bursts. And because DIGIC integrates all key processing functions, power consumption is kept to a minimum.

EOS Integrated Cleaning System

The EOS Integrated Cleaning System combats sensor dust in three important ways: Reduce, Repel and Remove.

Repel - Anti-static technologies, including a special fluorine coating, are applied to the low-pass filter covering the front of the sensor so as not to attract dust.

Remove - A Self-Cleaning Sensor Unit uses hi-frequency vibrations to shake dust from the infrared filter for a period of approximately one second after each start up. For instant shooting after power up, this feature is disabled immediately the shutter release is depressed.

Canon has also developed an internal Dust Delete Data system, which can map the position of visible dust on the sensor. This can then be deleted automatically after the shoot with the latest Digital Photo Professional software.

Picture Style

Picture Style pre-sets simplify in-camera control over image qualities. Picture Style presets can be likened to different film types – each one offering a different colour response. Within each selectable pre-set, photographers have control over sharpness, contrast, colour tone and saturation. The camera’s factory default configuration is set to deliver immediately-usable JPEG images without need for additional menu settings. Picture Style presets applied to a RAW image can be revised with Canon’s Digital Photo Professional software.

The User Defined Picture Style can be used to store up to three customised pre-sets, or any of the pre-sets available for download from Canon’s web site at www.canon.co.jp/Imaging/picturestyle/file/index.html.

Images can be recorded in camera with sRGB or Adobe RGB colour space. Digital Photo Professional supports sRGB, Adobe RGB, ColorMatch RGB, Apple RGB and Wide Gamut RGB colour spaces. ICC (International Colour Consortium) profiles can be attached to TIFF or JPEG images when converted from RAW. This allows faithful reproduction of colours in software applications that support ICC profiles, such as Adobe Photoshop. For improved efficiency, a set of image adjustments can be saved as a recipe and applied.

EOS Utility

The latest version of EOS Utility provides essential support for Live View remote shooting, camera configuration and image transfers. Tightly integrated with Digital Photo Professional, EOS Utility can be configured to monitor ‘hot’ folders, automatically renaming and moving incoming images to a structured file system. Users can also tag their images with EXIF data, including copyright information.

Picture Style Editor

Picture Style Editor allows users to create individual Picture Styles that fit with their personal requirements. Each Picture Style contains detailed information on how specific colours should be represented within an image. Once new Picture Styles have been created, they can be uploaded directly into the camera and applied to JPEG or RAW images. When working with RAW files in DPP, both personal Picture Styles and the 6 predetermined Picture Styles can all be adjusted.

Press release 26 August 2008

With the demand for digital SLR cameras reaching unprecedented levels, Canon is answering the call with the announcement of the next evolution in advanced amateur digital SLR photography. The EOS 50D digital SLR camera comes with 15.1 megapixel resolution and Canon's new DIGIC 4 image processor.

Designed to offer extraordinary quality and image control for the advanced photographer with a passion for the art, the Canon EOS 50D includes an expanded ISO range, improved noise reduction, and in-camera photo editing features. Canon has loaded the EOS 50D camera with a number of enhancements and some trickle-down technology from Canon's professional digital SLR cameras, as well as a new Creative Auto Mode (CA) that gives users more creative flexibility to make image setting adjustments conveniently without the need to be a photo expert.

The EOS 50D Digital SLR camera carries over the EOS 40D's 14-bit Analog-to-Digital conversion process for smooth tones, and also includes enhanced noise reduction, especially at higher ISO ranges, which will help bring those romantic nighttime shots into greater focus and clarity.

Capable of shooting 6.3 frames per second (fps), the EOS 50D Digital SLR camera is ideal for shooting everything from beautiful night landscapes to fast-action sports.

"Advanced amateur photographers blur the line between the hobbyist and the professional, looking for professional features and capabilities in their equipment that will allow them to capture that awe-inspiring image. Canon is constantly striving to provide these shooters with the most advanced imaging technology, like the new EOS 50D Digital SLR camera, to fuel their passion for photography, and help them achieve their creative potential," stated Yuichi Ishizuka, senior vice president and general manager, Consumer Imaging Group, Canon U.S.A.

Improved image quality

The EOS 50D’s 15.1-megapixel CMOS APS-C size image sensor has been improved, thanks to the use of newly designed gapless microlenses over each pixel to reduce noise and expand sensitivity up to ISO 12800.

The faster processing speed of the camera's DIGIC 4 image processor contributes to the fast 6.3 frame-per-second (fps) continuous shooting capability (for bursts of up to 90 Large/Fine JPEGs or 16 RAW images on a UDMA CF card), to give shooters the tools they need to capture that perfect moment in perfect clarity. The EOS 50D provides ISO speeds from ISO 100 up to ISO 3200 in 1/3-stop increments, along with two high-speed settings - H1 and H2 - of ISO 6400 and ISO 12800, respectively.

Along with a wide ISO range, Canon gives shooters more tools to help maximize clarity and color. The camera offers multiple levels of noise reduction during high-speed shooting. Users can choose from one of four settings –Standard/Weak/Strong/None – to help reduce digital noise that can result from poor lighting conditions. As part of the camera's internal image processing, the EOS 50D conducts peripheral illumination correction, which automatically evens brightness across the image field, making an image of a blue sky even toned throughout, a function previously accomplished through post-processing software on a personal computer. Thanks largely to the DIGIC 4 processor, this automatic adjustment can be made in-camera during shooting with JPEG images or corrected in post-photoshoot processing with RAW images through Canon's Digital Photo Professional (DPP) software (supplied with the camera). Helping to ensure each picture's subject is clearly visible, Canon's enhanced Auto Lighting Optimizer analyzes the brightness of subjects and automatically adjusts dark images so that they appear brighter – perfect for subjects in shade or in backlit situations. The Auto Lighting Optimizer on the EOS 50D has been updated not only to optimize images while they are being taken, but can also optimize images post-capture, during playback, to help ensure the subject of each image does not appear too dark. Post-capture enhancement can help maximize image quality without the need of a computer. A significant upgrade to the Canon EOS 50D camera is its large, clear 3.0-inch Clear View LCD screen which features 920,000 dot/VGA resolution, four times the pixel count of the EOS 40D camera's screen, for better clarity and color. To help show off those fantastic shots, the EOS 50D camera includes an HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) output to display crisp, clear images on a High-Definition TV. The EOS 50D recognizes the needs of today's photographers, and the faster processing speed of the DIGIC 4 processor helps support UDMA cards for faster writing of image files.

The camera is also equipped with a high-performance viewfinder featuring 0.95x magnification and the same high-performance Autofocus (AF) system as the EOS 40D. It has nine cross-type sensors for accurate target subject acquisition with lenses possessing maximum apertures of f/5.6 or faster, and a high-precision diagonal center cross-type AF point that's effective with f/2.8 and faster lenses, helping photographers ensure better focus of their targets.

The AF Microadjustment feature, originally introduced last year with the Canon EOS-1D Mark III professional digital SLR camera, has also been added to the EOS 50D for maximum control over focusing precision.

Canon gets creative for advancing amateurs

Canon is taking steps to give advanced amateurs more flexibility with a new ‘CA’ Creative Full Auto setting on the EOS 50D mode dial. This new setting goes a step beyond Full Auto, allowing users to make adjustments before shooting while still in an Automatic mode, without needing to know the meaning of technical terms such as aperture, shutter speed, etc.

In this mode, the camera menu on the back screen spells out options in common language for average photo enthusiasts, allowing them to ‘blur the background’ or ‘lighten or darken the image’. These easy-to-comprehend image options will help amateur photographers improve the shots they are capable of taking, while helping them learn new techniques. When in the new CA mode, users will be able to adjust flash settings, brighten or darken images, blur the background, set the camera's drive mode, and select a picture style directly on the camera's LCD screen.

Better Live View

For photographers who prefer to frame their shots using the camera's 3-inch Clear View LCD screen, Canon has improved the Live View function of the EOS 50D to include "Quick Mode AF," "Live Mode AF," and "Face Detection Live Mode AF" that detects up to 35 individual forward-looking faces for better focus and clarity when taking group or portrait shots.

The camera's Quick Mode AF setting flips the mirror down and carries out regular phase-detection autofocus, while the Live Mode AF and Face Detection Live Mode AF use the camera's CMOS image sensor for contrast detection autofocus. Two detailed grid displays have also been added to Live View shooting as optional settings for easier composition.

Two small RAW formats

In addition to the RAW and JPEG image capture modes that photographers are accustomed to, the EOS 50D now offers more manageable resolution settings and file sizes with two sRAW recording formats, sRAW1 and sRAW2.

At the sRAW1 setting, resolution is 7.1 megapixels with a file size that is approximately 25 percent smaller than a standard 15.1 megapixel RAW image. With the sRAW2 setting, resolution is 3.8 megapixels at less than half the file size of a standard RAW image, retaining all of the flexibility and creative possibilities associated with full-size, conventional RAW images. The EOS 50D is the first Canon digital SLR that allows the use of RAW and sRAW settings in Basic Zone as well as Creative Zone shooting modes, even further improving the camera's flexibility.

EOS Integrated Cleaning System

The Self-Cleaning Sensor Unit for the Canon EOS 50D has also been upgraded and now includes a fluorine coating on the low-pass filter for better dust resistance. The Self-Cleaning Sensor Unit uses ultrasonic vibrations to shake dust particles off of the low-pass filter in front of the sensor each time the camera is powered up or shut down. The second part of the system includes a software component where sensor spots are mapped and saved as Dust Delete Data that is attached to the image file for removal during post processing using Canon's DPP software.

Pricing & availability

The EOS 50D (body only) is available in the UK and Europe from the end of September 2008 priced at £1199.99 / €1599.99 RRP inc. VAT. In the USA the camera is scheduled for delivery in early October 2008 at an estimated selling price (body only) of $1399.

The EOS 50D EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM kit is available in the UK and Europe from end of September 2008 priced at £1499.99 / €1949.99 RRP inc. VAT. In the USA, the camera will sell as a kit with the EF 28-135mm f3.5-5.6 IS USM lens at an estimated price of $1599.